When an individual, or groups or teams of individuals, utilize the Internet to search for and to access a web site that contains specific information/data, e.g., some type of technical information that is pertinent to that individual's search, the information/data that is returned to those individuals, via a graphical display, has been previously compiled. This means that the information/data that is presented to the individual is only as current as the last update. It is, unfortunately, commonplace for the most recent update to have taken place weeks, months, or, in some instances, years earlier.
The information/data, e.g., technical information regarding a company's product, that is available to the individual, or groups thereof, is the result of a rather laborious process of acquiring the necessary information, categorizing the information into related sections, compiling that information into a, hopefully, well organized format, which will then allow an individual to obtain the information/data that is pertinent to their specific needs.
The acquisition, categorization, compilation, presentation, and the subsequent mandatory maintenance of that technical information is an extremely expensive, time consuming and laborious task. Current methods used for knowledge acquisition and subsequent propagation to its audience are time consuming, very inefficient and expensive. Access to the experts, e.g., development engineers, software developers, field engineers, etc., who supply the source information is difficult at best due to their busy schedules. As such, they have a minimal amount of time to contribute to and/or to review the technical information to be documented, much less spending time explaining things to those who are directly involved in the writing and creating of the technical guide. In addition, pulling them away from their primary tasks could be directly associated with added costs of product development as well as impacting the projected delivery date of their company's products. However, their collaboration, with regard to the technical information, is clearly required throughout all phases of deployment of, e.g., that company's product/solution.
Additionally, it is also important to obtain the information to be utilized from a wide array of organizations and perspectives such as technical assistance centers, field organizations, and professional services. It would be especially advantageous to have a more comprehensive knowledge base from which to draw the information, therefore providing to an individual a more complete reference material.
Furthermore, dissemination/distribution of the technical information/data is critical to the success of a company's product line as the production/solution must be supportable throughout all phases of deployment of that product.
Currently, common viable means of gathering this information from the engineers, developers, and other experts include, in one example, the acquisition of the information through countless e-mails, which is accompanied by the usual wait time for a response. Another method of gathering the information can be through conference calls between the involved contributors, provided, of course, that each contributor has the time available. As is well known, scheduling conflicts among engineers and developers are not uncommon, which can postpone the conference calls for days, weeks, or even months, which could delay the release of the company's products. Additionally, another means of gathering the information involves the off-site meeting, which, by virtue of the travel required, is even more difficult to schedule than a conference call.
All of these factors contribute to unnecessarily incurred expenses in either the time spent tracking down the information, or in time spent completing the information when acquired in a fragmented form, or in the time and effort spent determining if there was a duplication of the information obtained. Other factors that may contribute to the higher costs of production and/or deployment of a company's product/solution may include the determination of whether the information obtained is marginal, with regard to the appropriateness of the content, and determining the validity of the information obtained, with regard to the correctness of information, such as applied to technical information.
Thus, a need exists for a method of receiving user submitted information that not only has continuous, simultaneous and omnipresent availability to all potential information providers, but also is capable of storing and categorizing that information as it is received. A further need exists for providing feedback to the user who submitted the information. Additionally, a need exists for a method to make this information available to all potential users of the information as soon as it is received.
Thus a further need exists for a method to validate information, e.g., technical information, that is presented in a web page environment. Additionally, a need exists for a visible display that represents the validity of the information. Further, an additional need exists for providing a method to comment on the information, so that the comment may influence the displayed validity of the information. Another need exists to provide a method to correct the information, such that those corrections will affect the displayed validity of the information. A further need exists for providing a method for submitting new information. An additional need exists for providing a method for submitting additional information to existing information.